by Orson Scott Card
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Product Description
Alvin is a Maker, the first to be born in a century.Now a grown man and a journeyman smith, Alvin has returned to his family in the town of Vigor Church. He will share in their isolation, work as a blacksmith, and try to teach anyone who wishes to learn the knack of being a Maker. For Alvin has had a vision of the Crystal City he will build, and he knows that he cannot build it alone.But he has left behind in Hatrack River enemies as well as true friends. His ancient foe, the Unmaker, whose cruel whispers and deadly plots have threatened Alvin’s life at every turn, has found new hands to do his work of destruction.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Sorry I listened to the naysayers..., 2008-08-03
I didn't buy this book right away after I finished Prentice Alvin because of the negative reviews I read on here. And boy am I sorry! I really loved this series and it was bothering me not to know how it continued. So one day when I was in the bookstore and saw it there I bought it.
I literally just finished reading it 15 minutes ago and I'm here to tell anybody who is looking at the reviews to see if its a good book that it IS!! I don't get how anybody could have read the other three and then said there was something wrong with this one. So much happened to further Alvin's journey and yeah he did have to suffer through that trial and he found a new enemy in his own brother. But I thought it was wonderful that through all of the bad that a lot of good took place. More good than bad. Just like real life. Hopefully.
So I say boo to the naysaysers! I will be reading ALL of the other books in this series no matter what anybody else says.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 The first major disappointment in the Alvin Maker series, 2008-06-05
Card's `Alvin Maker' series takes us down an alternate timeline to a pre-industrial America where magic, religion, and science compete for ascendancy. In this fourth installment, Alvin comes home to teach the unteachable - the Art of Making. Facing some frivolous charges from `a woman scorned', he gyrates back to Hatrack River again, where the now-embittered Makepeace Smith has him arrested for the theft of the Golden Plough. Unwilling to use his amazing powers to free himself, he relies on British lawyer Verily Cooper to defend him.
Is this supposed to make sense? Despite his enormous magical powers, Alvin has become a lump, unsure how to move forward, and unwilling to make any effort to even try. Clearly the fault lies with Card, who has no idea where he's going with the series at this point and is just filling pages, hoping the characters will tell him what to do next. There's no major conflict in this volume (the trial is pretty spurious to begin with and Alvin's never in any serious danger) and there's no real progress towards building the Crystal City (which we assume is the ultimate goal of the series) so why even bother? After the first three installments dealt with religious fanaticism, dispossessed Native Americans, and slavery, Card gives us a courtroom melodrama that revolves around petty squabbles like who owns Alvin's journeyman piece. `Alvin Prentice' wasn't Card's best, but this book is the first major disappointment of the series.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Decent, But Not Exceptional, Installment in Card's Alvin Marker Series, 2007-12-16
I'm not exactly certain what to make of "Alvin Journeyman". While Orson Scott Card remains among our best writers of science fiction and fantasy, his excellent reputation rests more on his critically acclaimed novels devoted to Ender Wiggin, of which the most notable example remains "Ender's Game". In his "Alvin Marker" series, Card offers an intriguing historical fantasy about an alternative historical United States set in the early 19th Century, in a setting that is replete with some unexpected "facts" such as continued British rule of the Southeastern United States and Napoleonic France's domination over virtually all of Europe well into the 1820s. In this latest installment, "Alvin Journeyman", Card uses some rather overt references to Afro-American slavery in putting his main protagonist, Alvin Marker, in jeopardy, and compares and contrasts Alvin's trials and tribulations with the relative success being enjoyed by his mendacious younger brother Calvin at Napoleon's imperial court. While Card's storytelling rises quite often to the occasion, those who seek his finest work will have to go elsewhere, most notably to the best novels devoted to Ender Wiggin.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
 a lot of reading for little substance, 2005-06-03
The Alvin Maker series starts off with a unique and fascinating alternate history of a world where people have "knacks" which allow them to do what would be considered "magic" to most of us. Alvin's knack is "making" and the first two books explained his world and shaped his character through some interesting and unique experiences.
The third book signalled the beginning of a decline in the series as Card moves toward his favored story of a main male character (Alvin) who is supposedly noble and good above all else. The third book is saved by an interesting and appropriate storyline about slavery but the same cannot be said of the fourth.
Unfortunately, in the fourth book, he makes the Alvin behave so stupidly as a means of attempting to martyr him that the reader soon loses respect for the main character. There is honor in self-sacrifice but not in someone who thinks that covering up the lies and misdeeds of others is a form of "good". Doesn't Card ever think it might be interesting to explore the theme of fostering positive character growth in others by having their lies and misdeeds dealt with directly by the person who they have harmed? I'm not talking about Rambo-type behavior but the fact that the Ender's series, the Homecoming series, and now the Alvin Maker series have pathetic men who believe bad decisions make them strong and noble is getting tiresome.
The worst part isn't the retread of the same old story but the fact that this story simply goes on and on and seems to have very little point other than to drag poor undeserving Alvin through the muck and have him sit by and do diddly about it. This is not only uninteresting for the reader but actively annoying.
Other reviewers have pointed out that this book brings together a cast of characters that will eventually serve a purpose in future novels in the series. I believe that those characters could have been brought in through a much less drawn-out and tedious storyline. Essentially, a few chapters of a novel which continues the move toward building the Crystal City (Alvin's ultimate goal as outlined in The Red Prophet) should have done it rather than subjecting us to no less than 3 separate liars accusing Alvin of various misdeeds and us having to suffer through excruciating details.
I decided after reading this book that this would be absolutely the last series of Card's novels I'd ever read. He's an excellent writer but he needs to tighten up his writing and get a new character or two. Ender, Nafai and Alvin are all just too similarly spineless.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Slow but worth it, 2004-09-10
This novel was an interesting story to the Alvin Maker series. I did enjoy the story and the adventures that Card told but I felt that this story was a stopping point-a temporary detour as he regrouped. I felt that this tale was an attempt to finish the story he started and gather the characters he needed to reach the Crystal City.
This is a very important book in the series. It introduces characters that I feel are going to be fundamental to the conclusion of the Alvin Maker series. If have been enjoying this gift from Card, you need to pick this book up and struggle through the slight lulls and finish this one.
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